


all these ups and downs (trip up our good intentions)

by graesun



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M, Poor!Ray, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-29
Updated: 2013-10-29
Packaged: 2017-12-30 21:47:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1023776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graesun/pseuds/graesun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Joel goes to leave, the bags of groceries are gone, the food shoved into Ray's fridge, pantry, even his fruit bowl. There's a loaf of bread and a box of teddy grahams left on his counter, and Ray points towards them. "You're forgetting all your food."</p><p>"Eh," Joel says. "Too lazy to lug all that crap to my house. It was tiring enough bringing it here."</p><p>Ray throws his hands up. "Then why did you?"</p><p>--</p><p>In which Joel just wants to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	all these ups and downs (trip up our good intentions)

"I brought pizza!"

Ray's eyes cross as he looks at the box under his nose. "I can see that. Smells fantastic," he says and takes the box out of his hands. Joel steps into Ray's apartment and shuts the door behind him, and soon the two are sunk into the couch with their greasy hands wrapped around two controllers and their eyes glued to the television.

"I love my job," Ray says as he furiously taps the buttons. "I mean, as much as anyone can love their job--"

"I love mine," Joel interrupts.

"As much as anyone can love their job where they don't get to play video games all day," Ray says with a teasing grin. His grin soon drops, though, as his character in their game is shot down. "Shit. Anyway, I'm just nervous, is all. The last boss we had was really cool with me, because we knew each other beforehand. That's part of the reason I got hired."

"You cheater," Joel teases.

"I'm good at what I do! He wouldn't have hired me if I sucked."

"Then why are you so worried about this new boss?"

"I don't know," Ray sighs. "New bosses change things. I like my job the way it is."

"I don't think you have a lot to worry about," Joel reassures, and moves the controller wildly in the air in an attempt to get his character to move faster. " _Asshole, move._ You know your shit. You're not an asshole. You'll be fine."

"But what if this guy likes assholes," Ray mutters, and the timer on their game stops. Joel sighs as his half of the screen lights up with "Mission Failed."

"Then maybe you can introduce him to yours," Joel says with a wink and a grin, and Ray groans. 

"Gross," he says, and Joel sends him a look before he gets up and heads to the kitchen.

"Need a drink. You want anything?" His voice isn't as playful as it was before, and Ray wonders how he could have so drastically changed Joel's mood simply by saying he didn't want to get fucked in the butt by his new boss.

"I bought Coke and Dr. Pepper for tonight… And cookies, bring those."

In the kitchen, Joel opens the fridge and easily finds the soda. The entire fridge is empty, save for a few condiments, milk, and a few lunchables. Joel grabs two sodas for both of them before grabbing the package of cookies off the top of the fridge and bringing everything into the living room.

"So are you even younger than I thought or do you just really love lunchables?" Joel says as he sits back down beside Ray, who gives him a questioning glance. "Your fridge is severely lacking in the whole 'food' department, which, unless I'm mistaken, is what I thought refrigerators are for?"

"Oh," Ray says and glances down at his soda before popping it open. "I haven't had a lot of time to go shopping. We've spent a lot of time at work cleaning and organizing for the new boss." He shrugs and sets his soda aside before starting a new game.

Joel shoves a cookie in his mouth and picks up the controller, Ray's empty fridge pushed to the back of his mind.

\--

"I'm sorry, I--what? Geoff, calm down, we're not even using this place for another two months, okay? It's just a fucking shelf."

Ray laughs as he hears Geoff shouting in the background--something about not having enough storage--before Joel sighs over the line. "Sorry, Geoff is… dumb, I don't know. I wish he would just leave this to the professionals." Joel's voice fades away at the end of his sentence, and Ray can picture him turning away from the phone to glare at his coworker. "What were you saying?"

"Well, first of all, you left your game over here the other night," Ray says as he aimlessly walks around his living room and glances at the game case on his coffee table. "And second, I wanted to know if you wanted to come over tonight." Ray manages to keep his voice steady, keeps it from dropping to a suggestive tone, but he listens as Joel hesitates to speak. "We don't have to play video games," Ray clarifies.

Joel sucks in a breath. "Oh. Yeah, sure. Tonight's good," he says, and Ray picks up on the slight nervousness in his tone.

Ray rolls his eyes to the ceiling. He understands that his and Joel's relationship is weird--that the boundaries between friend and lover blur without either of them really acknowledging it--but he wishes Joel wouldn't be so weird about it.

"Ray?"

Ray's attention snaps back to the voice on the phone. "Sorry, what?"

"I said tonight's fine, but I thought your hours were picking up at GameStop?"

"I--" Ray starts, then glances at his work clothes, name tag, and set of keys that are set neatly on his couch. "I'm actually on break right now. I get off at five."

"Okay, then I'll come over a little bit after? Six, maybe?"

"Yeah," Ray says, and the two give their goodbyes and hang up.

Picking up his work clothes, Ray sighs, takes them to his room, and shoves them into his dresser. When he comes back into the kitchen, he glances at the bare counters and empty fruit bowl before he grabs the last lunchable out of his fridge.

\--

Joel's arms are covered in goosebumps. He pulls away from the man below him, glances down at their bare chests that are both heaving and close together, glances at the bed on which the two are laying, and then ponders on how he could possibly be cold in this kind of situation.

"What's wrong?" Ray says, and his lips are red and wet, glasses a bit askew, and hair utterly ruffled.

"Where the fuck are your blankets? We're literally about to have sex and I'm cold. How does that happen? Why is this bed so completely void of blankets? What the fuck is this?" Joel grabs the Sailor Moon sheet that barely covers half of Ray's Queen size bed. It's the only blanket on the entire mattress, and Joel glances at the floor, thinking maybe they knocked some other blankets off.

"They're washing. This was the only thing I had left," Ray admits.

"I. Am. Cold," Joel says. Ray thinks he might legitimately be upset enough to leave, but then Joel is kissing him again. "You better warm me up," he says with a playful grin.

Rolling the both of them over, Ray pulls the Sailor Moon sheet with him, and in their now switched positions, the sheet cocoons them. "Better?" he asks with a small smile.

"How about--" Joel starts, and as he rolls them again, they fall off the bed with a loud thud. "Ow."

Ray bursts into laughter. "Oh my god," he laughs out. "Yes, how about that. That is--that is great. I--" he laughs even harder and leans his forehead on Joel's shoulder.

"You're just lucky you landed on top, else you wouldn't be laughing," Joel groans, but he's stroking Ray's back softly.

"That was great," Ray giggles, finally finished laughing. Joel rolls them again so Ray is below him and kisses his neck.

Ray moans softly, grips Joel's shoulder blades with blunt nails, and Joel grins into his skin. "Not so funny now, huh?"

\--

The next morning, Ray wakes first and groans as he realizes they slept on the floor. His body aches, and as he sits up, his joints pop. With a glance to the sleeping man beside him, Ray gets up and grabs a bottle of painkillers from the bathroom. He leaves it on the floor where Joel will see it first thing.

As he pulls on Joel's hoodie, Ray sees the bundle of blankets that he tossed in the corner last week. After ruining them in the wash, he tried to salvage them, attempted to put them back together, but the threads literally came apart in his hands. His sheets turned to piles of string and the cotton had come out of his comforter. When he tried to use it anyway, he woke up with cotton in his mouth, in his hair, and on his clothes.

Quickly and quietly, Ray gathers the torn and ruined materials in his hands and shoves them in his closet where no one, especially Joel, will see.

Later that morning, Ray is making Ramen when Joel enters the kitchen. He thanks Ray for the painkillers as he opens the fridge and notices it's bare contents again. When he glances at Ray, Ray shrugs and gestures to the pot of Ramen on the stove.

Joel doesn't comment, and they eat in silence.

\--

"What are you--"

"Gang way!" Joel shouts, pushing past Ray through his front door with bags of groceries.

Confused and bewildered, Ray watches him for a moment, then closes his door and follows the man to the kitchen. "What's going on?"

"I don't like lunchables," Joel says as he pulls food--a pack of cookies, a bag of chips--out of the bags. "And we needed snacks."

Ray continues to watch him and grows more and more confused. "How are cans of soup considered snacks?"

"They've got noodles in the shapes of letters. Did you know that? It's fucking cool. How could I pass up letter noodles?" Joel's eyes grow wide as he grins and holds up the can.

"You mean alphabet soup?"

"You knew about it and didn't tell me?" Joel says, attempting to sound offended, as he continues to pull food out of the bags.

"Apples, Joel?"

He shrugs. "I wanted something juicy."

Ray sighs and shakes his head, believing Joel simply to be crazy as always. But when he goes to leave, the bags of groceries are gone, the food shoved into Ray's fridge, pantry, even his fruit bowl. There's a loaf of bread and a box of teddy grahams left on his counter, and Ray points towards them. "You're forgetting all your food."

"Eh," Joel says. "Too lazy to lug all that crap to my house. It was tiring enough bringing it here."

Ray throws his hands up. "Then why did you?"

Joel shrugs, and Ray's annoyance grows at his casualness. "I wanted snacks. You wanted snacks. Now we've got snacks. Enjoy!" Before Ray can say anything more, Joel is out the door and in the elevator.

\--

Over the next few weeks, Joel shows up randomly at Ray's apartment. At first, it's so they can play video games or make out on the couch, but then Joel begins to take him out.

At first, Ray refuses, and Joel notices him glance towards his kitchen where, again, the counters are bare and the fruit bowl is empty, but Joel insists and practically drags him out the door.

"I've been dying to go here, anyway," he'll say of the restaurants he drags Ray to.

"I made you come. It's only fair that I pay," he says as he pushes Ray's wallet back into his hands.

"I want to," he says, and the line between friend and lover continues to blur.

\--

"Seriously?"

"I refuse to suffer because you're too lazy to put your blankets back on the bed."

"So you bought me a whole new set of blankets?!"

"Don't act so offended. Now we can have the hot sex we've always wanted!"

\--

"This has to stop," Ray says when Joel randomly shows up at his apartment again.

"What?"

"Taking me out, buying me dinner, paying for my movie ticket--"

"I like you," Joel says, and Ray stops, because it's not the kind of protest he expected Joel to make. "I like you, and I want to. Now put this on and come with me." Joel throws a blue hoodie at Ray. It says "Caboose -1" on the back.

"What--When did this happen?" Ray says, forgetting the entire argument he was going to make about Joel not spending anymore money on him. "You got your own hoodie?"

Joel grins. "It officially comes out in a week. You get one in advance."

Ray hurriedly puts it on and grins at the "Blue Army" on his chest. "This is so awesome. I can't believe you finally get your own hoodie."

Ray's resistance to going out with Joel again is forgotten as he grabs Ray's hand, and they walk out of the apartment building to Joel's car. Ray feels like a giddy school girl with her first boyfriend--hand holding and lots of excitement over his new varsity football jacket that he's letting her wear.

Enviously, Ray listens to Joel chatter about the hoodie and how it came about, and then even more about the new branch his work is starting. Ray has always been jealous of Joel's job, where they literally play videos games and get paid simply because they put their gameplay on the internet. Ray's never held any negative feelings towards Joel in general just because his job is so much better, but Ray has always wished he could be a part of it.

He soon forgets his jealousy, though, when Joel takes him out to dinner and tells Ray, "This is our first official date. I'm paying."

\--

Later that night, Joel is driving him home, and Ray feels incredibly guilty. He's slightly angry, still a bit jealous, but mostly, he feels guilty.

"I've been… lying, kind of," he blurts out into the silence of the car.

"Lying?" Joel asks.

"Mostly… Lies of omission, but still, uhm, other lies. Which doesn't make it okay, but… Yeah, lies." Joel raises an eyebrow at him, and Ray sighs. "My new boss, uhm. He cut my hours. Big time."

"Okay," Joel says. "I'm trying to follow you here but--"

"The last week I was there, I literally worked three hours. The entire week." Joel glances at him. "And, I mean, I didn't tell you about it, because I was really struggling with money. And I was trying to get my hours back and trying to find another job and still trying to reason with the new boss and--eventually I quit and I haven't had a lot of money, really. At all." Ray rushes all of this out as he stares out the windshield. "I couldn't afford food. I ruined my blankets in the washing machine and couldn't buy new ones. This," he tugs on the Blue Army hoodie, "is probably the nicest thing I own right now."

"Ray--"

"I feel like such an asshole, because this was our first official date and I feel like I've ruined it. And also for just lying to you, because I really love you and I don't want to lie to you, ever and…" He trails off and continues to stare out the windshield. "I don't want to be a burden and spend your money, either. And I--"

"First of all," Joel interrupts, and Ray closes his eyes because he thinks this it. The limbo between friends and lovers is over completely, and now they won't be either. "I understand why you lied, and it's okay. Second of all, I knew. It's still okay. Thi--"

"You knew?"

"I bought you alphabet soup," Joel says, staring at Ray. "Of course I knew."

"How--"

"You didn't have any food for two weeks, and suddenly you could hang out more than one night a week and let me spend the night. And when I randomly dropped by, you were always home. You used to always be working, and I used to have to squeeze my way into your schedule. Of course I knew." Ray continues to stare at him. "I saw you put the ruined blankets in the closet, and I knew you needed help."

"So you… Tried to sneakily help me?"

"Tried? I successfully sneakily helped you."

Ray leans back in the seat and stares out the windshield again. He feels like he should be angry, but somehow, he knows Joel didn't help him out of pity. He thinks back to the new blankets, the groceries, the constant outings--he knew Joel was spending way too much money on him, especially considering their weird, sometimes strained relationship. He never thought about why.

"I love you, too, by the way," Joel says quietly.

Ray blinks, takes a deep breath, and says, "Where are we?"

Joel smiles and turns into a parking lot. The car faces a building with the words "Rooster Teeth" on it, and Ray realizes he's at Joel's work.

Joel reaches into the backseat. He pulls out a black jacket. "There's another new hoodie coming out in a few months."

Ray takes the jacket and finds the embroidered emblem. "Achievement Hunter?"

"You're not a burden. I've told you--I want to spend money on you. If I didn't, I wouldn't. But you really don't have to worry about me buying groceries for you anymore." Joel nods towards the building. "Welcome to Rooster Teeth."

\--

In just a few months, Achievement Hunter becomes the most popular branch of Rooster Teeth.

After receiving his first paycheck, Ray takes Joel out to dinner, and Ray pays. He even gets them desert.

Joel still buys Ray groceries, but that's only because they now live in the same apartment.

As for the friend/lover limbo, Joel and Ray rarely have to blur lines anymore. They are coworkers, friends, family, and, as told by the rings on their fingers, lovers.

**Author's Note:**

> This was not totally how I planned, and it is very unbeta’d/unedited (this is the first draft, i’M SORRY). But I hope you enjoyed it anyway. Thank you for reading. Any feedback is very welcomed. :)


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